The next morning, the sea wind howled.
The warship set sail from shore, its white flag gleaming beneath the sunlight. Rock and Zephyr stood at the bow, their figures drifting farther and farther away with the waves.
The soldiers at the port watched the departing ship and immediately began chattering among themselves—
"This is Major General Rock's first mission!"
"I can't wait to see what huge things he'll do!!!"
"He'll definitely shock the entire North Blue!!!"
"But I heard from people under Vice Admiral Garp..." one soldier said quietly. "He always turns his enemies into charred corpses with lightning. He basically never leaves anyone alive..."
"Seriously?! That's way too terrifying—"
Just as the soldiers were discussing it heatedly, someone suddenly cut in timidly.
"But... I saw that he was going with Vice Admiral Zephyr."
"Isn't Vice Admiral Zephyr..."
Before the sentence could be finished, the port fell silent for three seconds.
Everyone wore an indescribably complicated expression.
"Then this time... what's going to happen...?"
Meanwhile · Marine Headquarters Intelligence Division
Sengoku and Tsuru sat beside the intelligence desk, reviewing developments in the New World.
Garp strode in while chewing on a rice cracker, as casual as ever.
"Yo~ You're both here~"
Sengoku glanced up at him. "Cut the crap. What are you doing here?"
The moment Garp sat down, he casually asked, "So... where's that brat Rock headed for his mission this time?"
Sengoku flipped through a document. "North Blue. A medium-sized pirate crew that's recently risen to prominence. He picked them himself."
The corners of Garp's mouth stiffened. "North Blue..."
A fleeting heaviness filled his eyes, but he quickly waved it off and pretended to be relaxed. "It's nothing, it's nothing. I was just asking~"
At that moment, Tsuru suddenly looked up, her voice soft but sharp. "Garp."
"Does Rock... have something in mind?"
As her words fell, Sengoku stopped what he was doing as well and looked at Garp with a slight frown.
Garp froze for a moment. "Huh? Why would you ask that?"
Tsuru did not answer. Instead, she pushed a thick pirate dossier toward the two of them.
"See for yourselves."
Sengoku lowered his head and flipped it open, his expression instantly darkening.
The dossier listed a string of horrifying crimes: burning cities, kidnapping, forced labor, massacres, torture killings, human trafficking...
Every charge was marked: Unresolved / Unprosecuted.
Veins bulged on Sengoku's forehead as he snapped, "The crimes this pirate crew committed are fucking—"
Before he could finish, Tsuru softly interrupted, "I heard... Rock insisted on taking Zephyr with him."
Sengoku froze upon hearing that and looked toward Garp. Clearly, he had not known.
The wisdom of the Buddha instantly allowed him to grasp the key point.
"Garp... you knew all along?"
Garp was silent for a long while before finally nodding.
"That kid..."
He took a deep breath, looking at the pages filled with dark crimes as his gaze sank. "He's probably planning to use this opportunity to—"
"Correct certain things."
Sengoku and Tsuru understood in an instant.
Every Marine had their own justice, and Zephyr's was the most unusual.
After witnessing the senseless slaughter of war, Zephyr established his No-Kill principle. He believed the weight of life surpassed all else, and that the Marines' purpose should be to arrest rather than execute.
What Rock had displayed so far was a firm conviction forged from personally witnessing too many tragedies: "Evil should not be allowed to keep living."
They were two righteous paths, yet ones that could scarcely coexist.
At that moment, Tsuru let out a soft sigh. "I see..."
She silently slid another, much thinner document across the table.
Sengoku and Garp exchanged puzzled looks before casually opening it.
The next moment, it was as though a silent thunderclap had exploded through the Intelligence Division—their pupils suddenly contracted.
The sea shimmered beneath the sunlight, and the wind was gentle.
The warship sped toward the North Blue, its wake carving a long white trail across the water.
On the deck at the bow, Rock sat lazily atop the railing, facing the wind as he enjoyed a brief moment of tranquility.
Zephyr stood beside him with his arms folded, his chest rising steadily as he looked resolutely toward the distant horizon.
The sea breeze rustled their clothes. It was so quiet that time itself seemed to have slowed by half a beat.
Then Rock suddenly spoke, his voice as light as an offhand remark.
"Brother Zephyr, I heard your justice... is No-Kill?"
Zephyr's shoulders visibly stiffened. After a moment, he sighed.
"Yeah, you heard about it too."
He gazed at the horizon, and countless memories of past battlefields seemed to flash through his eyes.
"I've seen too many wars, and too many meaningless deaths."
"To me, human life is the most precious thing. It stands above everything else."
"The Marines' mission should be to arrest evil, not to end lives with our own hands."
"So whenever I carry out a mission, I try not to kill. I only defeat them and bring the pirates back."
His voice carried the conviction he had upheld for many years.
However—
"And then wait for them to escape and keep burning, killing, and plundering?"
Rock's casual words shattered all that composure, splitting the air apart.
Zephyr abruptly turned his head, uncertainty appearing in his eyes for the first time.
Rock shed his lazy demeanor. His toes lightly tapped the deck as he landed, and his gaze sharpened.
"Even if you know they've killed hundreds, burned cities, destroyed villages, tortured innocent people as if they were toys..."
"Would you still choose not to kill?"
Zephyr opened his mouth, but he could not give a resolute answer.
Rock suddenly raised his hand and flicked it.
Smack.
A heavy dossier slammed into Zephyr's arms.
Zephyr lowered his head and flipped through it, his expression darkening bit by bit.
—Burning cities
—Massacring villages
—Enslavement
—Torture killings
—Pillage
—Human experimentation
—Kidnapping, human trafficking...
Every crime seemed to be written in the wails of the innocent.
Zephyr's fingers trembled faintly against the edge of the document.
After a long while, he spoke with difficulty. "As long as we capture them and let the law punish them... at least..."
Rock raised his head, his gaze profound. "Brother Zephyr, you've captured quite a few pirates."
"But over the years, how many of them have truly turned over a new leaf?"
Zephyr's lips trembled slightly, but he could not name a single one.
He fell silent.
Even the sea wind fell silent.
It was as though the entire world were waiting for his answer—an answer that could never hold true.
In that oppressive silence, Rock suddenly asked in a low voice, "Brother Zephyr."
He slowly turned around, his eyes incomparably calm beneath the golden sunlight.
"If one day—"
"I really unleashed Thunder upon Marineford..."
"If someone with abilities like mine became a person who had to be stopped."
"If, without the resolve to kill the other person, you couldn't prevent a tragedy."
He slowly lifted his head and met Zephyr's stunned gaze.
"What would you do?"
In an instant, the wind over the sea stopped.
The shadows of the clouds stopped.
Even Zephyr's breathing stopped, his heart clenching violently in his chest.
Because Rock's question was not a hypothetical. It was something that could truly happen.
Zephyr stared at Rock, his Adam's apple bobbing, yet no sound came out.
Rock waited quietly.
The sea remained calm, but it seemed that the next second—
A storm would erupt.
Zephyr's life in the original work—
Before you continue